Journal of Austrian Studies

Abstract:

This article is a reaction to the heated debate on the occasion of Peter Handke's Nobel Prize in 2019. It tries to reveal three problem areas found most notably in his "travelogues" on Yugoslavia, Winterliche Reise and Sommerlicher Nachtrag. The first is that in their strategic one- sidedness, they gloss over the issues of organized violence in Bosnia and especially the responsibility for the genocide of Srebrenica rather than revealing anything else—a literary ventriloquism of his nationalist Serbian "informants." Second, the article explores the extent to which Handke's writings develop Balkan stereotyping as a fantasy dreamworld to "poeticize" reality and create an ersatz- belonging for his torn identity. Finally, the article looks at the Austrian "inability to mourn," deconstructing Handke's positions by connecting him to one of the primal scenes of Austria's Second Republic, the scandal revolving around the wartime activities of the presidential candidate Kurt Waldheim in 1986